Pueblo County, Colorado
Barney Evans

Contributed by Jean Griesan.

Barney Evans, a highly respected citizen of Pueblo, now serving as county commissioner of Pueblo County, is the possessor of a handsome property which enables him to spend his declining years in the pleasurable enjoyment of his accumulations. The record of his life, previous to 1896, when he retired, is that of an active, enterprising, methodical and sagacious business man, who bent his energies to the honorable acquirement of a comfortable competence for himself and family.

Mr. Evans was born in Andrew County, Mo., March 2, 1840, and is a son of John and Frances (Todd) Evans. The father was a blacksmith by trade, but most of his life was devoted to the work of the ministry in the Baptist Church. During his last years, however, he was engaged in the stock business in Pueblo County. He was a very prominent and influential citizen of the communities where he lived; was at one time an honored member of the Missouri legislature; and when Fort Sumter was fired upon in 1861, was serving as a member of the Kansas legislature. He was a strong Union man and a true Christian. He died in Pueblo County in 1896, at the ripe old age of seventy-nine years. His wife was a native of Kentucky and a blood relative of the wife of Abraham Lincoln.

In his native county Barney Evans was reared, his education being obtained in its common schools. In 1855 he moved with his parents to Johnson County, Kan., where he made his home until 1881, and during the Civil war was a member of the Kansas State Militia, which most of the time was on guard duty along the border. When Price made his famous raid through Kansas, he was near enough to the scene of action to hear the cannons of that general's army at Lawrence, and two days after the engagement he visited the battle ground. After the close of the war he engaged in farming and stock-raising in that state until coming to Pueblo County, Colo., in 1881. He first located about twenty miles east of the city of Pueblo, on the Fort Reynolds reservation, and during his entire residence there was extensively interested in stock raising until he retired from active business life a few years ago. He subsequently sold his ranches. One of the ranches on which he spent three years, is located near Vineland, and he also lived for a few years in Vineland and on the St. Charles River, but now makes his home in East Pueblo, where he has a very pleasant two-story brick residence at No. 1004 East Tenth street.

In 1861 Mr. Evans married Miss Minerva J. Kenton, a native of Indiana, and a descendant of Simon Kenton, the noted Indian fighter. To them were born seven sons and four daughters, all living with the exception of Hattie, who was married and left two small children who now make their home with our subject. The others are: John F., Charles and Harvey, who are engaged in ranching and the stock business in Pueblo County; and Taylor, Arthur, George, Floyd, Etta, Lucy and Stella May, all at home.

Mr. Evans is a Master Mason, and a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; while politically he has been a life-long Democrat. In 1896 he was elected county commissioner of Pueblo County, and so acceptably did he fill the office that he was re-elected in the fall of 1898, being the present incumbent. A man of keen perception, of unbounded enterprise, his success in life is due entirely to his own efforts, and he deserves prominent mention among the leading and representative men of the county. His genial, pleasant manner has made him quite popular in both business and social circles, and as a public-spirited, enterprising man, he is recognized as a valued citizen of the community.

Extracted from "Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado," published by Chapman Publishing Company in Chicago in 1899.



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